Beekeeper Challenges Jeff Denham #CA10

Denham has a new Democratic challenger, a beekeeper and farmer from Kingsburg, Calif. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

A beekeeper and farmer from Kingsburg, Calif., announced Tuesday that he will challenge GOP Rep. Jeff Denham in a Central Valley district with swing potential.

This will be Democrat Michael Eggman’s first race, but as the Sacramento Bee pointed out, he is the brother of state Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman.

Denham was a top target of national Democrats in 2012, and his race invited a torrent out of outside spending from both sides. But he survived against astronaut Jose Hernandez in a district that President Barack Obama carried by 4 points.

This cycle, Denham was among the first 11 GOP incumbents included in the National Republican Congressional Committee’s incumbent-protection program. Democrats are again looking to take him out and hope Eggman’s profile will be a good fit for the rural 10th District.

“Delivering bees requires me to drive hundreds of miles throughout this Valley. Farmers, small businesses and our Valley families are hurting and we are really disgusted about the inability of our elected leaders to work together on the issues facing us,” Eggman said in a statement. “I’m not a politician, I’m a small family farmer so people will know where I stand and can trust that I’ll put our communities first.”

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Somebody that knows about bees needs to be in Washington. Bees are in big trouble wherever pesticides with damaging chemicals like nicotinoid (think I spelled that right) are used. Eurozone and UK are close to banning anything with the chemical in it. Think about it. No bees = no pollination – no food. Republicans it seems do not believe in science and do not believe in regulations that protect environment and people from damaging products. Sen. Blunt went even further by writing a section into a budget resolution bill recently that protects Monsanto from any liability if products damage the environment or people. That is outrageous!
Hope Dems get out and support this fellow.